Not offered 2026-27

What makes one character do the right thing, while another character does not? How do characters living in the midst of social and political crises balance their individual right to freedom with larger moral needs and demands? What can we learn from these ethics-based discussions that will influence our own moral behavior? This course uses fiction to explore issues of voice, place, identity, and intercultural dialogue in our contemporary national and globalized world. Students will read a combination of local and international fiction and nonfiction including texts from the United States, Haiti, South America, India, Palestine and Israel, South Africa, Zimbabwe and others. Part of the discussion will be linking areas of injustice and struggle (particularly of the underrepresented and unheard) to modern and current struggles and connections within the United States.